And Then There Were Three
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Missing Scene' from Season 3’s Debasement Tapes. When Logan heads out to the store for more Red Bull and licorice, Mac gets talking to Dick about being torn between Bronson and Max... and then her problems just get bigger...


**A/N: This came out of watching Season 3's Debasement Tapes and wishing for some MaDi... Let me know what you think :-)**

_**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Veronica Mars belong to Rob Thomas - they're not mine.**_

And Then There Were Three

"How do you dump the perfect boyfriend?" Mac asked herself as she sat alone in the living area of Logan's suite at the Neptune Grand.

It was a rhetorical kind of a question, though if God wanted to grant her a sign as an answer to it, she'd be grateful.

"You don't" said a voice that was closer to the Devil than God, Mac realised, as she glanced over at Dick now framed in his bedroom doorway.

"I wasn't actually asking you" she replied flatly, looking back at her computer screen but not really concentrating now.

"You should be" came Dick's reponse, as he wandered over and flopped down on the couch beside her with such a force, Mac actually felt herself bounce up and down.

The look she gave him was half shock at his apparent offer of dating advice and half annoyance at his interrupting her work for Logan. All Dick saw was that he had her attention, so he continued.

"Who knows more about perfect guys than a perfect guy?" he asked, all modesty and a big grin that would've been cute and amusing if Mac were not so appalled by his vanity.

"This from the guy who admitted that being an ass expert means he is in fact an ass?" she said, more to her computer than him since that is where her eyes shifted back to.

Dick seemed undeterred as he settled himself into the corner of the couch, propped one ankle across the opposite knee and stared at her.

"So, who is this dude and why the dumpage?" he asked, dropping his arms along the back of the couch and the arm rest with a thud, "I'm so bored right now, I'll actually listen to your problems" he admitted and Mac just shook her head.

"You don't even know him" was all she said as she clicked away at the mouse and keyboard, finding everything took three attempts to get right with the distraction of Dick's eyes burning a hole in the side of her head.

"Then describe him or whatever" he shrugged, "C'mon, spill it, Mackenzie, it'll feel better" he told her, desperate for the gossip maybe, but mostly just needing something to concentrate on that didn't hurt.

Mac went back and forth in her head between telling and not telling Dick the inner workings of her head, to the point where she felt like a table tennis game was being playing within her cranium. Knowing she must be crazy but also aware that a) Dick was unlikely to leave til she answered him and b) right now she needed all the help she could get, she finally relented.

"Fine" she said, shutting the laptop lid down and facing Dick, "I have a boyfriend, his name is Bronson, and he's an animal rights activist"

"You mean the whole 'meat is murder' and everything?" he checked, making a face that told Mac he so didn't get it.

"That and other stuff, yeah" she nodded, "but anyway, he's cute and sweet, and he makes me laugh, and he makes me feel happy and safe..." she reeled off, until Dick started to laugh.

"Geez, Mac, when did we fall into the Brady Bunch?" he chuckled.

She looked affronted by the remark but Dick either didn't notice or just didn't care - most likely a little of both.

"Listen" he said, shifting his leg and sitting forward on the couch, closer to her, "That stuff is cool, right? But the cute, sweet thing, it gets old" he told her, "That's what you put up with having when you're old and fat and married"

"And obviously what I should be more concerned about is looks and money. How stupid of me not to realise" Mac dead-panned, moving to turn away and feeling this was possibly her stupidest idea ever.

Her hand reached out to the computer, but didn't quite make it as Dick's fingers closed around her wrist. She looked sideways at him, wondering what the hell he was doing, but losing the ability to speak somehow when she turned her head and caught the look in his eyes.

"Does he make you hot?" he asked her, in a tone that made all the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, "When he kisses you, do you moan for more? Does he know how to touch you so you lose control, can't think straight?" he continued, so intense, all Mac could do was stare back at him, swallowing hard as her imagination when into overdrive and Dick's finger's burnt through the skin at her wrist.

"Well?" he asked, suddenly seeming closer than before, though Mac hadn't noticed either of them move at all.

"I don't..." she tried to say, knowing she was never going to finish the sentence because it had no true end.

'I don't know' was a lie, and Dick's gazed challenged her to say it. He already knew the answer, Mac had never been made to feel that way, the way he'd secretly like to make her feel.

"You should dump him, Mac" he said in all but a whisper, knowing he had to be crazy to do this but unable to keep up the pretence of hating her anymore.

When she was with Beaver, he ragged on them both, all out of jealousy because his brother had got the girl he always secretly wanted, but he'd been too afraid to step outside the boundaries of the 09er circle.

Now Dick had very little left to lose, and had learnt through life's twisted events that wasting time was an idiots way to live. He might be a dumb blond, but he wasn't completely stupid. He knew this might be his only shot at this moment, as Mac's gaze stayed locked with his. She shivered as his free hand cupped her cheek, fell into him as his lips finally covered hers.

This was what he'd meant, Mac realised, as Dick kissed her and a rush of feelings washed through her entire being, rocking her to the core. Her heart pounded, her head swam, she lost hold of any rational thought, as his tongue entered her mouth, and his arms slid around her body, one hand on her back the other at her head, fingers tangling in her hair as she fought a losing battle with her conscience and good sense both.

"More Red Bull and licorice for the lady" Logan announced as he re-entered the suite, the sound of his voice parting the odd couple in a split second.

"Hey, man" Dick greeted his friend, "I was just offering Mac some advice" he said pointedly as the brunette stared at the now open laptop and feigned concentration that was going to take a hell of a long time to find now, she suspected.

"Okay..." Logan looked between the two, unconvinced by Dick's words, but hardly able to believe what his imagination was coming up with could be true.

Mac didn't even glance up until she heard Dick's bedroom door click shut, then she let out a breath she hardly knew she'd been holding, running both hands back through her slightly mussed up hair.

"You okay?" Logan asked, sitting down in the chair oppoiste and cracking a can open.

"Sure" replied Mac simply, before looking back at the computer screen.

She seemed calm and fairly normal on the outside, but inside she was screaming with frustration.

Trying to organise her feelings for Bronson and for Max was bad enough, but now Dick was in the mix too. One thing was for sure, she had a lot of thinking to do when she was done with this project for Logan.

Strangely though, Mac was pretty sure what the outcome would be, as her eyes flitted to the nearby bedroom door. The guy that makes you laugh, the guy you have things in common with, or the guy you've been waiting for all your life? No contest.

- The End -


End file.
